Pyramids of Great Egypt

It was dark all the way down. But even with the faint, faltering light of his candle, as he peered through the gap in the wall, what he saw inside the chamber drew his breath away. Treasures of gold and ivory filled the chamber, casting their supernatural glow around the entire room. But the real treasure, he knew, lay behind the door at the far end of the chamber, between two large statues of sentinels – the burial chamber. "What do you see? Do you see anything?"
"I see wonderful things." he replied.

Those were the words spoken by Howard Carter on the 4th of November, 1922, when he looked through the break in the wall, into the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen. His discovery made headlines around the world, brought the otherwise dull science of archaeology into the limelight, and sparked off a fascination about ancient Egypt that has its grip on us even today. Such is the power and magic of the pyramids of Great Egypt.

Great Egypt has over 100 pyramids scattered across the Nile valley, the most renowned of which are located at Giza, near Cairo. It is here, amid miles and miles of harsh, sandy desert, withstanding the ravages of time for the last four thousand years that the only survivor of the seven wonders of the ancient world still stands. The Great pyramid of Giza, built for the Pharaoh Khufu, standing 140 meters tall, as high as a 40-storey building, is the ultimate tribute to the engineering skills of ancient Great Egypt. It has held the distinction of being the tallest man-made structure in the world for 3,800 years. It is estimated that over 20 tonnes of rock were moved each day during its 20-year period of construction – a miracle, considering the tools and techniques that were available to them. Its design uses the value of pi to the fourth decimal place, and its base, which measures 230 meters at each side, has a mean error of just 58 millimeters. Digest all this along with the fact that the three main pyramids of Giza were constructed in alignment with the three stars that form the belt in the constellation Orion, and you've hit upon the mystery of the pyramids: Why?

It is widely believed that the Egyptians considered death to be the journey of the Pharaoh to the heavens. Not only did pyramids contain the mummified body of the Pharaohs, so that they could be preserved for the afterlife, but also everything else that they would take along with them on this great journey – food, clothes, treasure, servants, and even their pets (mummified cats have been found in several pyramids). They were thought to be gateways between our world and the next and were always built on the west bank of the Nile, on the side of the setting sun.

However, the very grandeur of the pyramids became their downfall. They were easy targets for grave robbers and most have been robbed and vandalized several times over the years. Yet they still stand today, perhaps as messengers through time, silently conveying some cryptic message in the hope that we will decode it soon.